Bleak economic reality has prompted Goldman Sachs to postpone its annual hedge fund conference and move it from Miami to New York.

Spokesman Ed Kennedy said the conference, which had been slated for the first week of March, will be rescheduled at an undetermined date in the near future.

The Wall Street firm had planned to hold the conference at the Miami Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort & Club. Kennedy did not know where it would be hosted in the Big Apple.

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We have been mentioning for some time that Prime Brokerage cap-intro was due for some scrutiny by the bean-counters. This has come to fruition as headcount reduction across the street has hit everyone. However, Cap-intro now appears to be in the hands of the PR team. Having seen the US House panel excoriate the SEC today, I think that they made the right call.

(BTW: if you did not watch the testimony and have 4 hours – do sit back, crack open a beer and watch the show. )

We have resisted littering this blog with announcements of cap-intro personnel being laid off or pursuing other options as we take no pleasure in the dramatic upheaval that has taken over the HF industry and the severe impact on decent people’s lives.

However,

…from the day we launched Hedge Connection in 2005 we have been consistent in our message that prime brokerage cap-intro was valuable only for the largest funds as that is where incentives and the ease to raise capital drives their energies. Our message was simple, managers need to take control of the marketing process themselves and take advantage of services and partners that can help them build their business.